- Blind-sysadmins - lists.hodgsonfamily.org

dedicated servers
by mattias 13 Feb '16

13 Feb '16

if anyone here want a dedicated server dont use dataschack ( spelling ) no idea to tell them to turn of audio redirection...

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xen virtualization
by mattias 08 Feb '16

08 Feb '16

i experimenting with xen i playing with the old xen-tools any have experience with hvm guests? pvm or what are called are easy to install

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Access to consoles of VMWare VM guests
by Phil Rigby 05 Feb '16

05 Feb '16

Hi, This is my first posting to this list and I'm hoping one or more of you can be of help. I work for an IT services company as a Unix systems specialist. Over the last few years more and more of the system builds I am being asked to do have moved from physical servers to VMs. Our company's virtualisation provider of choice is the ESX platform running VMWare. I am trying to find out if there is any way I can get input access to the console of a VM guest. I realise there are many methods for installing and configuring the OS in an unattended manner using kikstart and other such tools but the problem comes when a VM guest running Linux has a problem and cannot complete an orderly boot up. In the days of physical servers, I could ssh to the ILO and, with the console output configured to be sent to the serial port device, I could read what was on the console, diagnose the issue and make corrections via input to the console to get the VM guest to boot up successfully. However, with a VM guest, I can't work out any way of being able to interact with the VM guest's console. I know that one can configure a virtual serial port to be used by the VM guest which will direct console access to a file that can be read on the ESX host machine but this is only half the job. I have no way of actually typing commands into the console during a live boot up. For background, I am a totally blind user of JAWS and use Reflections for my terminal emulation software to communicate with any Linux OS that has a network configured on it or, if the machine is physical, I can, as stated earlier, get a session going with the ILO. I just don't know what to do in the case of a VM. Sighted colleagues can of course just use vCenter's vSphere to get to a graphical version of the console for any VM guest but this is inaccessible with JAWS. I've even tried using the JAWS OCRfeature but this isn't accurate enough and doesn't allow positioning of the cursor precisely where I want it. Have any of you faced this issue and found a way to work round it? Regards, Phil.

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Installing Windows 10 64 bit
by Christian 30 Jan '16

30 Jan '16

Hello all, I lost the Win PE that I used to install Windows 10 64 bit. I am just wondering if anyone has a link to some Win PE which I can use to install? Many thanks, Christian

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security + scripts + SSH + screen
by Jad Wauthier 27 Jan '16

27 Jan '16

Hi, everyone. I wrote a simple bash script to alert me when anyone logs into my CentOS Linux server. It simply sends me an email with the username for the account that logged in, the hostname of the server, the date and time, and the IP recorded in the SSH_CONNECTION environment variable. I realize that, as a security measure, it's very weak, but I plan on expanding it. yesterday, I logged in from a new location, resumed a screen session, and proceeded to create a new window. My script reported the new IP upon the initial login, but, when I created the new screen window, it sent the IP that was recorded when I first created the screen session. Do you know of a way to force screen to update the SSH_CONNECTION environment variable when a new window is created? Is there a better place/way to find the IP of the current SSH session? Do you know of a free tool that can report account logins as they happen and send emails and or text messages? Thank you! Jad Wauthier

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Domain laptop boot issue
by Troy Hergert 27 Jan '16

27 Jan '16

All of our computers are on a Windows 2012 domain. Most of the laptops reportedly work well out in the field. But a handful of them are reported to have very slow bootup and login processes when not able to find the domain controler. The boot up and login take more than 5 minutes on some ocasions. These are all windows seven professional machines set up on a 2012 domain. Have any of you encountered this issue, and do you have any tips or tricks that helped laptops boot up faster when they can't find the domain controller? My minimum specs are I5 with a minimum of 4 gigs ram.Thanks.

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Domain laptop boot issue
by Troy Hergert 26 Jan '16

26 Jan '16

All of our computers are on a Windows 2012 domain. Most of the laptops reportedly work well out in the field. But a handful of them are reported to have very slow bootup and login processes when not able to find the domain controler. The boot up and login take more than 5 minutes on some ocasions. These are all windows seven professional machines set up on a 2012 domain. Have any of you encountered this issue, and do you have any tips or tricks that helped laptops boot up faster when they can't find the domain controller? My minimum specs are I5 with a minimum of 4 gigs ram.Thanks.

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accessible Speedtest
by Troy Hergert 25 Jan '16

25 Jan '16

Hi, Has anyone found an accessible speedtest site to measure your Internet bandwidth and speed. I'm not having luck with speedtest.net. Tried JAWS and Window-eyes. Anyone know of something accessible? Thanks.

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accessible Speedtest
by Troy Hergert 25 Jan '16

25 Jan '16

Hi, Has anyone found an accessible speedtest site to measure your Internet bandwidth and speed. I'm not having luck with speedtest.net. Tried JAWS and Window-eyes. Anyone know of something accessible? Thanks.

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Wetting up Windows VMs with Vagrant boxes.
by Jen Bottom 22 Jan '16

22 Jan '16

Hi all, Now and then I need access to Windows VMs, for testing customer stuff, or sometimes for evaluating different solutions to an accessibility problem I am having at work, with our ever growing horrible tool set :) I just found that there are Windows boxes for Vagrant here: https://atlas.hashicorp.com/boxes/search?provider=virtualbox&q=windows&sort… I am installing one now. Just wondering if anyone else has used these boxes and has any tips for provisioning them with NVDA etc. I was planning to install something like LinuxTools or Chocolaty on them/it, then use 'wget' or similar to download NVDA. I am assuming that NVDA has an installer that can be run from the command line, but I have never investigated this. Any advice appreciated. Cheers, Jen.

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some good news around System Center Configuration Manager
by Ryan Shugart 22 Jan '16

22 Jan '16

Hi: For those of you who have access to the Configuration Manager tech previews, download the 1512 build and give it a go with a screen reader. Microsoft has fixed the issue where quite a few of the list views throughout the product are inaccessible in that a screen reader doesn’t announce anything when using the arrow keys. All the list views I have tried work properly although there may be some that are still broken, I obviously couldn’t test in production. However, I did look at the screens that were causing the most issues in production and know those are fixed. Microsoft says they’ll be working on the ribbon next, although I can’t say when this work will be completed, so keep watching the tech previews. Ryan

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Assessing staff technical skill level
by Troy Hergert 21 Jan '16

21 Jan '16

As IT Manager, I have been asked to conduct an assessment of our staffs technical skill level. I need to come up with a way to assess their core computer skill level, then make recommendations as to what training they would need. Have any of you found any tools that would help assess your staffs technical skill level?

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Wetting up Windows VMs with Vagrant boxes.
by Jen Bottom 21 Jan '16

21 Jan '16

Hi all, Now and then I need access to Windows VMs, for testing customer stuff, or sometimes for evaluating different solutions to an accessibility problem I am having at work, with our ever growing horrible tool set :) I just found that there are Windows boxes for Vagrant here: https://atlas.hashicorp.com/boxes/search?provider=virtualbox&q=windows&sort… I am installing one now. Just wondering if anyone else has used these boxes and has any tips for provisioning them with NVDA etc. I was planning to install something like LinuxTools or Chocolaty on them/it, then use 'wget' or similar to download NVDA. I am assuming that NVDA has an installer that can be run from the command line, but I have never investigated this. Any advice appreciated. Cheers, Jen.

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UK ISP Static IP tip
by Barry Toner 21 Jan '16

21 Jan '16

Hi, I signed up to www.plus.net<http://www.plus.net> the other week and we went live in the house on Monday. The staff so far seem to be quite techy and are all UK based. I thought this wasn't happening anymore with the shortage of IPv4 addresses , but for a one of off £5 charge I was able to get a static IP of them. Remember back in the day when you could get one for free? Still though, I was quite pleased with this. Useful to know, if any of you need a static IP for home or work stuff. Barry

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UK ISP Static IP tip
by Barry Toner 20 Jan '16

20 Jan '16

Hi, I signed up to www.plus.net<http://www.plus.net> the other week and we went live in the house on Monday. The staff so far seem to be quite techy and are all UK based. I thought this wasn't happening anymore with the shortage of IPv4 addresses , but for a one of off £5 charge I was able to get a static IP of them. Remember back in the day when you could get one for free? Still though, I was quite pleased with this. Useful to know, if any of you need a static IP for home or work stuff. Barry

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Assessing staff technical skill level
by Troy Hergert 20 Jan '16

20 Jan '16

As IT Manager, I have been asked to conduct an assessment of our staffs technical skill level. I need to come up with a way to assess their core computer skill level, then make recommendations as to what training they would need. Have any of you found any tools that would help assess your staffs technical skill level?

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RDS, Remote App, and Window-Eyes
by Katherine Moss 20 Jan '16

20 Jan '16

Hello all, A few questions. I know that some of this at least is addressed in the AISquared knowledge base, but it seems that either I or they are missing something. I'm attempting to run Window-Eyes 9.2 remotely on a server, for administration for one, and I've enabled virtual channel, and then when I go into the Window-Eyes settings to set up the Virtual Terminal services voice, it never actually activates and my settings always tend to revert back to the default. I hit activate on Virtual Terminal Services for Remote desktop, and at that moment, Window-Eyes stops speaking ... so there's sort of a caveat there isn't there? Anyway ... onto my second question. We're trying to set up remote app (my friend says he's got it working for his Active Directory site), and I'm wondering whether anyone has gotten Remote App working with Window-Eyes? (the KB article does not discuss it specifically when referring to Terminal Services, only to ZenWorks Presentation server ...) But I'd assume the procedures for configuration are the same whether referring to remote app or to VDI? Thanks for input and suggestions, guys!

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git servers for Windows
by Jad Wauthier 15 Jan '16

15 Jan '16

Does anyone know of a good git server for Windows? Jad Wauthier

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Virtual desktop access and screen readers
by Mario Perčinić 13 Jan '16

13 Jan '16

Hi all. My gf just informed me that her employer is planning to change their desktop access solutions from rdp, to VDA, or for those who don't know, desktop virtual access. I've bean researching it if any windows screen readers support this new protocol, and have found none of the info about it. Has anyone tried it and with what results? -- Mario Percinic Accessibility consultant mario.percinic(a)gmail.com Skype: acousticman Twitter: @MarioPercinic GSM: +385922630259

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Generation II virtual machines
by Katherine Moss 28 Dec '15

28 Dec '15

Hey all, Hopefully everyone had a great Christmas ... I'm rather curious about something ... I've been having to create my virtual machines as generation I because I can't seem to get them to boot automatically,, or at all, on my current server (it would be interesting to see how my laptop handles them in client-side Hyper-V) as gen II. Any attempts at booting gen II VM on my server results in a "no OS device found, press any key to continue" error (happens on my laptop as well when trying to switch his boot type from legacy bios to UEFI). I'm wondering whether anyone has any insights, because my friend's older (bios-based) T300 and 2900 servers perform this task just fine with no modifications to any of the components. Is there something I have to do in order to make this work so that I don't have to babysit the boot process for UEFI? As I said, my friend has no problems, so I'm wondering whether the issues reside with the unit (another representation of possible defects, maybe?) Thanks for any feedback ... need to know how best to proceed.

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Generation II virtual machines
by Katherine Moss 27 Dec '15

27 Dec '15

Hey all, Hopefully everyone had a great Christmas ... I'm rather curious about something ... I've been having to create my virtual machines as generation I because I can't seem to get them to boot automatically,, or at all, on my current server (it would be interesting to see how my laptop handles them in client-side Hyper-V) as gen II. Any attempts at booting gen II VM on my server results in a "no OS device found, press any key to continue" error (happens on my laptop as well when trying to switch his boot type from legacy bios to UEFI). I'm wondering whether anyone has any insights, because my friend's older (bios-based) T300 and 2900 servers perform this task just fine with no modifications to any of the components. Is there something I have to do in order to make this work so that I don't have to babysit the boot process for UEFI? As I said, my friend has no problems, so I'm wondering whether the issues reside with the unit (another representation of possible defects, maybe?) Thanks for any feedback ... need to know how best to proceed.

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NAS GUI accessibility
by Zameer Mahomed 21 Dec '15

21 Dec '15

Hello listers I'm currently in the market for a NAS. Being new to these devices, my concern is accessibility, as i'd like to make full use of the device. I do understand that one may manage these devices via a web interface which sounds abit promising. I can get my hands on the following nas devices: QNAP HS-210, which is what I'd like to get. Lenovo iomega ix2 synology ds414J and also some NAS devices from Thecus. If you've used NAS devices from the above listed Manufacturers, your advice would be much appreciated. Kind regards

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RDS, Remote App, and Window-Eyes
by Katherine Moss 11 Dec '15

11 Dec '15

Hello all, A few questions. I know that some of this at least is addressed in the AISquared knowledge base, but it seems that either I or they are missing something. I'm attempting to run Window-Eyes 9.2 remotely on a server, for administration for one, and I've enabled virtual channel, and then when I go into the Window-Eyes settings to set up the Virtual Terminal services voice, it never actually activates and my settings always tend to revert back to the default. I hit activate on Virtual Terminal Services for Remote desktop, and at that moment, Window-Eyes stops speaking ... so there's sort of a caveat there isn't there? Anyway ... onto my second question. We're trying to set up remote app (my friend says he's got it working for his Active Directory site), and I'm wondering whether anyone has gotten Remote App working with Window-Eyes? (the KB article does not discuss it specifically when referring to Terminal Services, only to ZenWorks Presentation server ...) But I'd assume the procedures for configuration are the same whether referring to remote app or to VDI? Thanks for input and suggestions, guys!

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Good solutions for splitting a headset between phone and computer?
by Jen Bottom 11 Dec '15

11 Dec '15

Hi everyone, Perhaps a little OT, but I thought this would be a good place to ask the question anyway. At work I have been having some issues with our phone system, because we had phones with soft keys. I have been using an accessible SoftPhone running on Windows, but as a Mac is my main machine, I was using a KVM to go between them. I have some how hosed 3 or 4 KVMS in about a year. Also, the time it was taking for the USB devices to connect, was meaning I wasn't always able to get to the phone in time, or as quickly as I wanted. A possible short to medium term solution, is to get a Cisco phone with fixed buttons, so that I can do call hold, mute, transfer etc, but I don't want to have to where two headsets crossed over on top of my head, if I can help it. I have had really bad experiences with a Hagger splitter box in the past, and not sure if this would work with Voip Phones anyway. Any suggestions for boxes or leads, so that I can use one headset for computer speech and phone? Cheers, Jen.

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Re: [Blind-sysadmins] Good solutions for splitting ahead set between phone and computer?
by vic.pereira＠ssc-spc.gc.ca 10 Dec '15

10 Dec '15

It was older, because there wasn't any proprietary connections. The two eight inch female jacks for a headset, a cable that went to the mike and headphone jacks on the computer and two RJ11 jacks. One to connect to the phone and one to connect the telephone handset. There was a three position switch, handset, headset and off. The other switch was mute on/off. There was a volume control and another multiple position switch whose function escapes me now. Vic Pereira Project Manager, Networks and End-Users Branch Shared Services Canada / Government of Canada vic.pereira(a)ssc-spc.gc.ca / Tel: 204-781-5046 Gestionnaire de projet, Direction des réseaux et des utilisateurs finaux Services partagés Canada / Gouvernement du Canada vic.pereira(a)ssc-spc.gc.ca / Tél: 204-781-5046 -----Original Message----- From: Blind-sysadmins [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Brent Harding Sent: Thursday, December 10, 2015 13:05 To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] Good solutions for splitting aheadset between phone and computer? Wow! If the one I heard of was the one you tried, I'm surprised that for $300, they couldn't have solved that problem. One would hate to get calls from customers and have them hearing what I'm doing. ----- Original Message ----- From: <vic.pereira(a)ssc-spc.gc.ca> To: <blind-sysadmins(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org> Sent: Thursday, December 10, 2015 12:41 PM Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] Good solutions for splitting aheadset between phone and computer? I don't remember which Plantronics system I tried, but the issue was that the sound from my PC was heard by everyone on the phone. This wasn't practical since much of my work has me on several teleconferences. Vic Pereira Project Manager, Networks and End-Users Branch Shared Services Canada / Government of Canada vic.pereira(a)ssc-spc.gc.ca / Tel: 204-781-5046 Gestionnaire de projet, Direction des réseaux et des utilisateurs finaux Services partagés Canada / Gouvernement du Canada vic.pereira(a)ssc-spc.gc.ca / Tél: 204-781-5046 -----Original Message----- From: Blind-sysadmins [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Brent Harding Sent: Thursday, December 10, 2015 12:33 To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] Good solutions for splitting a headset betweenphone and computer? The only thing I've ever found on some of the various lists is the Plantronics SMH1783-11. It has a 3.5mm plug on one side for the computer, and the other ends in their proprietary quick disconnect plug that goes into an amplifier of some sort that then plugs into the phone. The thing costs around $300 and is a special order item, and so Plantronics told me, but headsets.com claims to have it in stock. I asked Plantronics about this thing as I have been thinking of getting into various kinds of phone work, and the guy said it only works with certain phones. If all Cisco phones use the same connector, things might be OK, otherwise one has to hope that whatever electrically fits that might be a few models off will work. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jen Bottom" <jen.bottom(a)gmail.com> To: <Blind-sysadmins(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org> Sent: Thursday, December 10, 2015 12:11 PM Subject: [Blind-sysadmins] Good solutions for splitting a headset betweenphone and computer? > Hi everyone, > > Perhaps a little OT, but I thought this would be a good place to ask > the question anyway. > At work I have been having some issues with our phone system, because > we had phones with soft keys. > > I have been using an accessible SoftPhone running on Windows, but as a > Mac is my main machine, I was using a KVM to go between them. > > I have some how hosed 3 or 4 KVMS in about a year. Also, the time it > was taking for the USB devices to connect, was meaning I wasn't always > able to get to the phone in time, or as quickly as I wanted. > > A possible short to medium term solution, is to get a Cisco phone with > fixed buttons, so that I can do call hold, mute, transfer etc, but I > don't want to have to where two headsets crossed over on top of my > head, if I can help it. > > I have had really bad experiences with a Hagger splitter box in the > past, and not sure if this would work with Voip Phones anyway. > > Any suggestions for boxes or leads, so that I can use one headset for > computer speech and phone? > > Cheers, > Jen. > > _______________________________________________ > Blind-sysadmins mailing list > Blind-sysadmins(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org > https://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/blind-sysadmins > _______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org https://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/blind-sysadmins _______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org https://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/blind-sysadmins _______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins(a)lists.hodgsonfamily.org https://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/blind-sysadmins

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